


First Impressions

by darkdropout



Category: Arashi (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Regency, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-23
Updated: 2019-03-23
Packaged: 2019-11-28 16:19:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18210662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darkdropout/pseuds/darkdropout
Summary: "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."Ohmiya Regency AU!





	First Impressions

For almost as long as anyone could remember, the estate at the top of the hill had stood empty. Four months ago, a gentleman by the name of Mr. Shunsuke Kazama had arrived in town to purchase the entire grand property – for it was larger than those around it by double – on behalf of a Lord Masaki Aiba. Aiba was a name none in this part of the country had heard before, but one that would soon be known quite well to all, as the ladies of the village immediately began a thorough investigation of its master and his origins.

  
After several weeks of letter writing, dogged inquiries, and only the most propitious of gossip, it was surmised that Lord Aiba was a man of very much wealth, an excellent pedigree, terribly good looks, and, to the great delight of every mother within a twenty mile radius, unmarried and in need of a wife.

Furthermore, Lord Aiba would not be inhabiting such a large estate on his own, and would bring along with him another equally eligible and affluent bachelor, Mr. Kazunari Ninomiya. Although less was known about Mr. Ninomiya’s situation, all agreed that the addition of not one, but two, wealthy and unmarried gentlemen was more than their small tract of land, so far from the city, could ever hope to deserve.

For the hero of this particular story, Captain Satoshi Ohno, such things were not of very much interest, or in truthful fact, of any interest at all. New arrivals, far and in between as they were, could only be met with this kind of excitement – an excitement that Captain Ohno had always found considerably exhausting. It was not so many years ago that his own arrival, and along with it that of his elder sister Miss Mina Ohno, had caused a stir among the townspeople. So perhaps it could be said, at the very least, he felt a dull pang of sympathy for those unsuspecting entrants, next in line for a welcoming scrutiny the likes of which country society comes second to none.

Still, even Captain Ohno held his own private hopes for these fresh additions to their circle, though they were very different from those of the parents of unwed daughters.

“Satoshi, of course this will mean a considerable relief for you at the upcoming country dance,” had been Sho’s first words to him as soon as the full details of these soon-to-be neighbors had reached their humble position at the bottom of the gossip mill. “If the gentlemen in question are even half as good at dancing as you, you may finally get a chance to fulfill your dearest wish of taking leave early!”

Despite the full berth of his eccentricities being apparent to all, along with his reluctance to attempt even the slightest of improvements to his ways, Captain Ohno had found himself in the unfortunate position of being one of the most eligible bachelors within the town proper. At 38 years old, moderately handsome despite his small stature, in above-average physical condition, and (through no fault of his own) with the resume of a quite renowned decorated naval captain, it was inescapable. That he was under the benevolence of Mr. Sho Sakurai, the incontestable heir to the Sakurai legacy, only added to his desirability, and surely did more than to make up for him having little of his own family money and an unfortunate spinster of a sister from whom he refused to separate. Indeed, in this sparsely populated land, the summation of all these circumstances, paired with his undeniable talent as a dancing partner, made each social occasion a test of the goodness of his patient nature.

Therefore, it could not be said that Captain Ohno was at all displeased by the idea of two more handsome, more wealthy gentlemen available for filling dance cards, who could release him from another long season of quadrilles.

 

***

  
Though carriages had been coming and going from Lord Aiba’s new residency for over a fortnight, packed to the fullest capacity with furnishings and other no doubt exquisite belongings, the gentleman himself did not arrive until the very morning of the first event of the season.

Upon learning of this delightful chance of fate, the vicar, Mr. Jun Matsumoto, sprang into immediate action, taking it upon himself to hand deliver invitations for the lord and his companion, Mr. Ninomiya.

It was mid-afternoon before Mr. Matsumoto reappeared from the bowels of Lord Aiba’s estate with the good news of the master’s gracious acceptance, and what could only be interpreted as a puzzled expression when asked to describe his first meeting with the long expected tenant.

“He is very friendly,” is all he will say as he stops briefly in the Sakurais’ sitting room on his way back into town, making himself more than comfortable in his regular seat across from Sho.

“That is all?” Sho asks while passing the vicar his usual cup and saucer, filled to the brim with tea made to the man’s exacting tastes.

Much like Captain Ohno, Sho Sakurai seemed to be not at all unsatisfied with competition to his current status as most eligible bachelor. Leaps and bounds above his naval comrade however, as the wealthy heir to an estate as immense as it was old, Sho had even before the day of his birth been the desired son-in-law for an entire four county province. Unyieldingly gracious under this unfathomable pressure, Sho, at 37, had still managed to remain noticeably unattached. To the frustration of those around him, he shared his expansive good fortune with no wife, but instead with his (by all accounts unexpected) chosen family of Captain Ohno and his sister.

“He is a character that I believe would be better understood for yourself,” Jun replies, accepting the cup from Sho’s hands with only the smallest twitch as their fingers inevitably brush.

For those ladies of more moderate ambition, a vicar’s wife was by no means a station to turn up one’s nose at – especially when that vicar was the very attractive, very accomplished Jun Matsumoto. Yet at 35 years old, the man behind the pulpit seemed as determinedly unwed as the rest of this company. Certainly from the outside point of view, the heir Sakurai and the vicar Matsumoto were both no doubt in need of a wife and, Captain Ohno had long held his own unspoken suspicions, as soon as either could finally admit their love and devotion to the other, they would both have one.

It is on this quietly held opinion that Ohno is ruminating when Jun turns his attention to him.

“Captain,” says Jun, “the Samejima sisters have already requested your first three dances for this evening and asked that I fill in their cards accordingly. You will make sure your uniform is properly pressed this time – I don’t need another earful from Mrs. Samejima on the degenerate state of your appearance.”

Ohno glances at Jun from across the top of the badly crumbled paper he has been hiding himself behind for the past ten minutes, a flimsy defense to avoid being drawn into any tedious conversations of gossip.

“I was thinking of not going out tonight,” he tells Jun.

The vicar’s rejection of such a notion is immediate – no sooner are the words from Ohno’s lips than he is already shaking his head.

“You would not stay home and have Miss Mina unaccompanied,” is his confident argument.

“She does not want to go either,” Ohno assures him, speaking a truth that all in the room acknowledge, for Mina Ohno is very much in her brother’s likeness, most especially in her opinions of social responsibilities. Still, Ohno is well aware this is a battle he has no hope to win, and it is only the stubborn streak within him that bids him to continue such a fruitless struggle from time to time, with no hope of success.

“You are both going,” Jun says, just as he always does, pushing the small, round rims of his spectacles up his nose in a stern gesture. “The two of you cannot always stay at home in your matching dressing gowns when there is a whole, wide world outside of your door.”

Ohno pouts at this reprimanding. “You like our matching dressing gowns. Sho got them for us for Christmas.”

“Sho has gone too far as to begin to look upon you as his own children.” Jun turns his judgmental countenance in Sho’s direction, but Sho only smiles back at him with not the slightest look of contrition on his face.

Jun sighs as he continues, “Which is why you all are coming – if only to make sure that you are reminded of how strange you have all become.”

Ohno knows well enough when a battle is lost, and excuses himself from the room not long after to go and inquire on the condition of his dress uniform, lest he be subjected to the vicar’s lecture twice in one day.


End file.
